What do Worms Eat? All About the Diet of Worms. A worm’s diet is based off of where they live and if they are surface worms or they live deep under the ground.
Worms that are generally near the surface of the dirt can eat anything from dead leaves to cardboard all the way to melon rinds and sawdust. For this reason, many people have taken to using worm buckets to process a lot of their garbage instead of having it sit in landfills where it cannot decompose properly. For instance, are you throwing away a lot of fruit and veggies cores/peelings? Well, set up a few worm bins and drop all of that waste in there and pretty soon you will have some fabulous compost to use for your plants.
Worms are some of the only creatures that can process all sorts of waste as their diet. Now, if you are looking to set up your own worm bin, it is super easy! That is all! Our articles are free for you to copy and distribute. Return to Worm Farming Homepage for more articles or to order worm farms. How to breed earthworms in your backyard. Written by Steve Corbett | 14 May 2012 Steve Corbett explains how earthworms can transform your garden into a plants' paradise.
Earthworms are the superheroes of soil. They provide an essential service by transforming unwanted organic matter into deodorised, nutritious food that plants can use right away. If you love gardening, earthworms are your new best friends. They pull dead, organic material underground and eat it, creating a safe and natural fertiliser, which actually contains more nutrients than regular compost – and it's free. As they tunnel around, earthworms aerate the soil, allowing air and water to penetrate. Earthworms can breed every seven to 10 days if conditions are right (particularly after it rains). A lot of what people throw in the bin could actually be composted or put in a worm farm, benefitting the garden instead. Put veggie peels, fruit scraps, eggshells, tea bags, dead flowers and shredded paper in your garden compost and let earthworms dispose of them for you.
Setting up a small-scale worm farm. Setting Up and Equipment You will need: Something to keep your worms in (a polystyrene box with a lid, an old fridge, a plastic bin with lid, or a ready-made worm farm).
At least one newspaper (or less if it's a polystyrene box). Some moist soil. A few crushed eggshells. A convenient place to keep your worm farm, is in an old fridge, preferably white, which you can often pick up for free. Black or dark green plastic worm farms are wonderful in terms of ease of use and design, but make sure you keep them well away from direct sun for most of the day, particularly in summer.
Preparing the Bed First of all tear up your newspaper into small pieces, leaving a couple of sheets for later, soak it in water until it's a bit mushy and then mix well with the soil and crushed eggshells. Put your worms on top. Put about the same weight of food as worms. Worms like oxygen, so make sure you fluff up the soil and waste every couple of days, and keep it moist (but not wet). Feeding Harvesting Worms Compost.